Geum is a genus of 65 species of rhizomatous herbs and subshrubs with simple or pinnately lobed leaves and regular flowers, such as G. borisii, G. chiloense, G. coccineum, G. macrophyllum, G. montanum, G. reptans, G. rivale, G. triflorum, G. Urbanum, and G. Japonicum, etc. Geum japonicum Thunb is a perennial herb and the flowering plant of the Rosaceae family. Water extract of the whole plant of Geum japonicum Thunb variant has been used as a diuretic in traditional Chinese medicine (Perry, L. M., In Medicinal Plants of East and Southeast Asia, MIT Press, Cambridge, Mass., pp. 242, 1980).
Skeletal-muscle healing following severe injury is slow and incomplete. The limited ability of damaged skeletal muscle to regenerate and the rapid formation of fibrous scar tissues at the wound site are major clinical problems. The common fate of severely traumatized skeletal muscle is fibrosis. To date, there is no effective therapeutic treatment that can promote complete skeletal muscle healing following severe injury.
As stated above, muscle healing following severe injury is slow and incomplete, resulting in fibrous tissue replacement (Grounds, M. D. Muscle regeneration: molecular aspects and therapeutic implications. Curr. Opin. Neurol. 12, 535-543 (1999); Nikolaou, P. K., et al., Biomechanical and histological evaluation of muscle after controlled strain injury. American J Sports Med. 15, 9-14(1987)). At present, there is no effective therapeutic measure that can be taken to promote significant skeletal muscle regeneration after severe muscle injury. In our previous studies (Li, M. et al., Two novel myogenic factors identified and isolated by sequential isoelectric focusing and sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis. Electrophoresis 21, 289-292 (2000); Li, M., et al., Identification and purification of an intrinsic human muscle myogenic factor that enhances muscle repair and regeneration. Arch. Biochem. Biophys. 384, 263-268 (2000)), muscle myogenic factors that could enhance the proliferation and differentiation of cultured satellite cells as well as muscle fiber regeneration in animal models were identified. However, complete healing following severe muscle injury did not occur although these myogenic factors could improve muscle healing.
Fibrous tissue can grow in relative ischemic environment but normal tissue cells are difficult to grow. When the skeletal muscles are damaged, the vasculatures are often damaged and therefore blood supply around the damaged site is insufficient. Normally, fibrous tissue grows faster and occupies the space previously occupied by the damaged muscle fibers, then blocks the space for new muscle fiber replacement. According to previous studies, some growth factors, such as VEGF, aFGF, bFGF, or PDGF, could enhance angiogenesis, but this angiogenesis mediated by those growth factors may require approximately two to nine weeks. There is no product available in the world market that is capable of inducing complete healing of severely damaged skeletal muscles, especially inducing neovascularization rapidly in a mater of hours. Up to now there is no recorded any drug or any factors in market or even in research available that could lead complete healing of severely damaged skeletal muscles.